RPM with Darkwood, Mirt and Profligate

Here is a new update on some of the records I have been playing a lot lately... and in my opinion are amongst the most interesting of the last few months...

The new Darkwood was released this summer but it is just perfect for autumn... as all of his music... 'Schicksalsfahrt' is all you might expect from Darkwood... maybe nothing suprising in sound, mood and production but it is just an amazing new collection of high quality songs. Neofolk as a genre might be dead but as long as a few people keep coming up with stuff as good as this I it will never fade away totally... or maybe even just forget the genre name... I play this stuff in between Leonard Cohen and Nick Drake... it is as good as that but just coming from a different era and world...

The Italian label Backwards has delivered an album which is one of the must haves for this 2013... it is by Mirt and it seems to be the eight record already by this Polish band... so I can imagine I missed out on some amazing music already... the sound is beautiful and soothing soft touching electronic stuff. Perfect for dreaming away on... minimalistic but only to serve the purpose of creating tender soundscapes... truly a highlight of this year!

Profligate is building quite a name for himself... and it started with his debut album from 2012... much more as his newer stuff the album is rooted in kraut / kosmische scene music... the techno aspect is there but less obvious... just as the noise background of the musician... all is quite spacey and psychedelic with dance music touches popping in and out and dream sequences having an equal part in the game... Get this one now and start following this great project with a truly new sound when it comes to dance music... soon two new 12"s will be ready... one on my Gooiland Elektro label and one one the USA based DKA Records label...

review: Group Rhoda - Out Of Time - Out Of Touch

I have always looked at 80's new wave music and subculture as a replay of 60's neo-romanticism... the 60's where the first replay of the Romantic era... which was in a way the first youth subculture in Western Society.

The 60's pre-hippie subcultures starting with The Beat Generation (even though the surfer subculture was also an early youth subculture which even adopted LSD) transformed the central idea's of the 19th century movement centered around the anti-rational and the emphasis on the subjective experience into the context of the new era. In the late 70's/early 80's this was given a new twist again fitting the changed world... I would claim that 80's new wave is nothing more as dark version of the neo-romantic movement of the 60's...

In new wave music psychedelic touches or even psychedelic music as such is not difficult to find. 'The Top' by The Cure is filled with references to psychedelic music. The Fields Of The Nephilim played psychedelic rock... but very dark... resulting into something more ritual therefor. The music by The Legendary Pink Dots and Edward Ka-Spel is as psychedelic as it gets. Just to name a few examples... and let's not forget some of the minimal electronics outfits... like Monoton for example... who where on the more experimental side. They often hinted to Minimal Music... which is also a 60's thing...

And... now in this endless 80's revival it is also there... Moon Duo are somewhere in between psychedelic music and Suicide related synth punk. Bronze is like a post-punk outfit spiced up with acid rock. And there is now this debut album by Group Rhoda... which is really close to 60's music... to be more clear... it sounds like The Great Society equipped with 80's instruments like a drum machine and synths... and a voice like that of Grace Slick... coming very close at least and singing in a typical 60's style...

So, no this is not daring new adventurous music... but what is today? Group Rhoda delivers a sound I have been listening to for many years but still untill now I have never heard this typical 60's sound done with 80's musical equipment... and done so well... so yes I love it!!

Even though this is yet another product of our age of recycling I prefer this way above all the cheap re-issues of so called lost gems, cult bands and classic albums from the 80's. Same goes for all these contemporary copycat bands who just sound like it is 1982 all over again... no, I will just put on this Group Rhoda album again and again... as compared to all of that this is daring new adventurous music!

Here is one track from the album...

review: Optic Nest - Entertainment

Optic Nest... for some years I only had that nice 7 inch with two crazy slow psychedelic minimal electronic tracks on it. Stuff that is working its way up from a Silver Apples heritage but that is also for sure from a different planet of its own. And now this LP... amazing... simply amazing... goodbye Silver Apples reference and hello other weirdness... still psychedelic at times more mostly just twisted and not of thisd place and way beyond your average (minimal) music.

This LP (again on Moptaco Dics)... well if released in the 80's this would have been collector stuff on discogs and ebay now... but now... I am afraid only for the real connoisseur... a piece for freaks and adventurous listeners... Think WSDP releases with a less punk / NDW twist and a more minimal music touch or maybe Thorax-Wach on acid...

The 7 inch convinced me already and had me hooked for years... this LP... I am a believer now... a follower... this LP is still working it way into my system deeper and deeper... get this or be ignorant... it is as simple as that...

I have some copies at the webshop and here is one full track...

Optic Nest - The Well Stirred Wild by Moptaco Dics

review: Xander Harris, Psychic Reality, Maria Minerva & Holy Other

I love synth music... but I guess that is no secret. In this day and age of unlimited recycling I am fed up with all re-issues spit out over the world every month. Contemporary music deserves more attention and has more cultural relevance... but this I have said before... maybe too many times already... Anyway for my part I try to keep an eye out for new synth sounds all the time... recently I came across a few records that are spinning here all the time now.

Xander Harris is one of these... with his "Urban Gothic" album he found a way into my home and heart for sure. His mix of psychedelic synth music in the Kosmische Scene style... think Schulze... with elektro, and at times even EBM, influenced beats is working perfectly for me. The tracks are not too long... sometimes even more like sketches than real tracks mabye... still they work for me. The album is building up... the beats are becoming more dominant gradually... so the whole album is like a trip from tranquil pieces to rather beat driven tunes... still I prefer the A side best and the last few tracks on the A side especially... this as they are the perfect blending of pyschedelic synth lines with a clear rhythm with beats that are not too much in your face... simply perfect!

After finishing the A side of the Xander Harris I often switch to the Psychic Reality album "Vibrant New Age". More house music influenced when it kicks in with the opening track "Fruit". Still this could have been Gold Panda on his first releases and / or with a more trippy and less clean sound. Or... this could have fitted on Throbbing Gristle's "20 Jazz Funk Greats" like a more poppy / proto house version of 'Hot On The Heels Of Love'. BUT... the best thing about "Vibrant New Age" is that the record evolves into a much less easy to consume album that flirts with some post-punk influences... like a Sixteens on tranquilizers maybe... or a hippie version of Zola Jesus...

And then there is "Maria Minerva's Cabaret Cixous" by Maria Minerva... superb synth stuff unlike you hear most of the time... hippie punk weird synth music at it's very best! Poppy but not at all slick or easy... anything like that to be true. Maybe even some of the most adventurous pop music you have heard for some time... How does it sound? I have no idea how to describe this really... it has an exotic feel, it is playful, weird, minimal... well these words would attract my attention if I read about synth music sounding that way...

Still this is not as trippy as the "With U" EP by Holy Other... and this record has for sure some dubstep influences... and I never did like dubstep before... not really... I heard some really slow and dark things but most was too hip-hop orientated for me in the end... Anyway "With U" is deep and slow and doomy... when played at 33 rpm... a massive trip into the unknown... but you can also play this record at 45 rpm and then it is still deep and doomy but could serve a well informed, or drugged out, dancefloor audience for sure. And I cannot decide at which speed the record is at its best... it works perfectly for me at both speeds... funny and strange but excellent in many ways!

I have some copies of the Xander Harris and Psychic Reality records in my webshop...

review: Moon Gangs, Jonas Reinhardt, Mist

Next to a revival of synth sounds from the 1980's there is also a whole world of retro psychedelic sounds that refer to the originals of the 1960's and 1970's. While the neo 1960's bands mostly are pop / rock orientated, like for example Woods and Crystal Stilts, the retro 1970's acts take their cue from the psychedelic synth patterns of Klaus Schulze and friends.

This Berliner Schule was centered around Klaus Schulze and the projects (Tangerine Dream, Ash Ra Tempel and solo) he was involved with. Often the music was called Krautrock but this scene is also known under another, and better, name: Kosmische Scene.

While some bands and musicians had a definitely pop / rock background (Klaus Schuleze being one of them) there were many with a link to the world of classical/ art music (like Manuel Göttsching and of course Can).

Also today in this field of music you can hear and categorize the projects this way... either being more related to this art music world or very obviously being more of a pop music thing. This is not necessarily done on basis of the background of the musicians. I would rather claim the music itself tells it all.

For example take the debut tape by Moon Gangs. You get two long tracks called "Sea" and "Sky". Lush swirling synth patterns surround you in a way Klaus Schulze could have done it... or the way Klaus Schulze did this. About 40 years ago. Do not take me wrong... I love this tape by Moon Gangs. It is perfect. If want to relax and trip away a bit on mellow, soothing and friendly trance indulging tunes you do not need to look futher. But... it is very close to the original. Nothing new to be found here.

Then there is a new Jonas Reinhardt album called 'Music For The Tactile Dome', a title referring a bit to Brian Eno of course. Their last album was a bit more band orienated or even space rock in a way. This new record is more ambient and yes more Berliner Schule so to say. Funny detail is that the USA based band recorded this album in Berlin... So the ghost of the past did find its way into the machines and comes out in the spacey psychedelic tracks.

Still Jonas Reinhardt does not sound as close to the originals as Moon Gang does. Also the music is more complex at times. While Moon Gangs serves long minimalistic subtle drones of synth sounds, Jonas Reinhardt creates more evolving structures with new sounds and textures popping in from time to time. Still the overal structures are repetitive enough to catch your brainwaves and get you hooked for a trippy ride.

Again more minimalistic but also in a very different way is the album 'House' by Mist, which is their second album. This record I would claim leaves for the biggest part the pop and rock world behind... as this is much more Minimal Music in the sense of the contemporary classical music style. Think Terry Riley and think Steve Reich for example.

Mist composed seven tracks, pressed on a 2LP set, that are built around long repetitive pieces with subtle shifts and changes. These are not just minimalistic pieces of analogue synthesizers, but well considered compositions. Some tracks have that Berliner Schule touch maybe... but some others are definitely much closer to the world of art music / contemporary classical music. All this without being too academic or highbrow.

In the end I would recommend all three of the release as all are truly excellent in their own way... Happy tripping!